If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Medium nuc to deep? How to do it?

I know this may seem counter productive with lots of people moving to all medium set ups, but how would I go about changing from medium nuc frames to a deep frame? Here are some of my ideas and hopefully some one knows the best or close to best way. A little background why I ended up with a medium nuc is because I didn't want a southern queened package that the people are offering around here to pick up locally. Didn't want to pay shipping on an ordered package. The person that I found making nucs is local over wintered, no treatment, breed for mite resistance and temperament. Only problem is they only had mediums left, they put me on a waiting list for a deep if some one cancels. Or so now on to the main issue on hand.

- place the medium nuc frames in a medium body and a deep on top when space is needed then repeat the process when the deep on top of the medium is full at that point find the queen and make sure she is in the deep and put the medium on top with a queen excluder.

- place the medium nuc frames in a deep body with a block of some sort to fill int the empty space and slowly pull out the medium frames. Maybe use for a nuc to start a second hive (this maybe wishful thinking)

- place the medium nuc frames in a deep body and leave the as is so the bees make drone comb in the empty space and cut off to controll mite population since I am useing plastic foundation

- run medium / deep / deep through winter and pull out the bottom medium at the end of winter before eggs are laid.

Re: Medium nuc to deep? How to do it?

I like the idea of sacrificing the drone brood for mite control. A simple way is to just put the medium frames to the side of the deep hive body and they bees will not continue raising brood on the outside frame. As the brood emerges, remove the frame and slide everything toward the new open space and replace frame on far side. Any number of ways of doing it. Nothing wrong with any you suggested, this is just what I would do switching a nuc of either size to the other. I have those southern queens you are so dead on ordered for April delivery. I think the genetics are what matters personally. It is just like if you moved south tomorrow. Would you immediately lose all those sought after northern characteristics?

Re: Medium nuc to deep? How to do it?

Originally Posted by Vance G

I have those southern queens you are so dead on ordered for April delivery. I think the genetics are what matters personally. It is just like if you moved south tomorrow. Would you immediately lose all those sought after northern characteristics?

I really didn't want to go with an unknown Southern queen becaus I can really only afford one hive this coming year, so I wanted to go with a queen with a better chance of surviving the winter. Just bought a home and got a few other projects to start on the home stead at the same time. If I was doing 2 hives I would have no problem going with a southern package.

Re: Medium nuc to deep? How to do it?

It's all the same concept. Getting from one size to another is all about removing the size you don't and replacing with the size you want while minimizing the cost to the bees. So you try to remove empties of the ones you don't, consolidate into boxes full of the ones you do want to put back on and boxes full of the empties by juggling, not only the frames in a hive, but the frames in all your hives. Anything empty is not a big loss. Anything that is full of honey or pollen in a good flow is not a big cost. If you have some extra space to fill in a medium you can finish it up with deeps. If you have some extra space in the deep and some mediums you need to put somewhere (because they have brood in them), you can finish it out with those mediums. You can even cut the combs out of the mediums and tie them into deeps. If you have a bit of honey at the top, you can probably fit two medium brood combs into one deep frame.

It's exactly the same principle getting from deeps to mediums or mediums to deeps or large cell to small cell. Keep pulling empties of what you don't want and feeding in frames of what you want. Especially look at them in spring when the colony is at its smallest and the most combs are empty.